Heart of Winter
by snugglejunkie
Summary: An unexpected visitor brings a whole host of supernatural trouble into the lives of Bostons resident M.E. and her detective best friend. The young female wizard struggling with her own secret love provides the catalyst that allows the pair to recognise their feelings for each other. But an evil lurking in the city finds in her the power it needs to exact revenge on them all...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is a crossover so a definite AU. It will be a femslash piece with eventual Rizzles and another potential pairing. Do not read if you are offended by romantic relationships between two women.**

** I know this is a mad combination, but I wanted to do a mash up of two of my favourite fantasy worlds. It will be set after the events of R&I 3.15 and Cold Days. **

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**Heart of Winter**

Stepping down from the greyhound bus, the young woman's senses were immediately assaulted by the smell of urine. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. It had been a very long time since she had travelled on public transport and it hadn't been a pleasant experience to revisit.

The method of travel she was now accustomed to was too risky, too many ways to be discovered. By now they would have realised that she was missing. Hundreds of pairs of eyes would be would be looking for her. The thought made her pull the hood of her sweater even further around her face. She brought up a hand to tuck in errant strands of dyed blue hair. They would of course find her eventually, but she wanted to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

Rolling her shoulders, she stretched out her back, the journey had taken several days and she was stiff from being cramped up all that time in a bus seat. She had hardly slept, maintaining a watchful eye on her fellow passengers, looking for any signs of an ambush. Now as the bus pulled away behind her onto the next leg of its journey, she allowed herself the smallest feeling of relief. She had made it to her destination. No one would know to look for her here, not for a while at least.

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans and crossed the street to join a small queue of people waiting for a cab. Making herself as inconspicuous as possible, she subtly looked around for any signs of danger. Her senses confirmed that the immediate vicinity was safe from threat, but a young couple kissing goodbye over at the bus station brought back a painful memory. She closed her eyes tightly, trying unsuccessfully to block out the vision. Running like a movie in her mind was a replay of her former mentor with his lanky arms wound around the slender waist of a beautiful blonde, their lips locked in a passionate kiss.

Her hands balled into fists as a wave of ice cold jealousy washed over her, it was irrational she knew and somewhat immature, but it was real and undeniable. Gasps of surprise from the people standing in line with her brought her out of her reverie. It was then that she noticed the silent shower of white swirling around them. It was snowing. _Darn it! Like no one is gonna notice a freaking snow storm in the middle of summer. _She wrestled back control of her emotions whilst similarly feigning shock for the benefit of those around her. It was tough but she managed it.

As suddenly as it had started the freak weather event ceased. Soon all traces had been dried away by the sun, leaving some people to wonder if it had really happened at all. Hopefully it would go no further than the odd conversation between the witnesses and their family members and friends.

But there was another observer, one who wasn't fooled by her display of innocence. Concealed from view on the roof a tall building across from the bus depot, a pair of crimson eyes scrutinised the young woman and the invisible power radiating from her. _Interesting…_

Finally the young woman reached the front of the line. Jumping into the cab, she pulled out the scrap of paper containing the hastily scrawled address and dictated it to the driver. As the cab pulled away from the bus station she considered how she was going to explain herself when she reached her destination.

Sneaking around in the attic as a young girl she had discovered a box of keepsakes belonging to her mother. Inside she had discovered a wonderful treasure - little bundles of neatly written letters. At first she thought they might have been old love letters from her father, _eww_. But it had turned out to be correspondence mapping over ten years of a sweet friendship, beginning when her mother was a young teenager and continuing into her early twenties. She had devoured them all and read them over and over in secret. Somehow the one-sided conversation had made her feel closer to her mother. They provided a glimpse of the girl she had once been, young, carefree and fun. The elegant penmanship and innocent prose of the writer had captured her heart, she loved reading all about the young girls life. She had felt a warm sense of comfort whenever she had revisited them over the years. Now as she prepared to meet the woman that had blossomed from that youthful letter composer, she felt a pinch of nervousness.

When the taxi pulled up at the house, she looked around, doing a thorough check of the area before paying the driver and getting out. She walked quickly up the drive and knocked lightly on the front door.

The door opened to reveal a beautiful honey blonde woman with warm hazel eyes. She smiled kindly at the younger woman standing on her doorstep.

"Can I help you?"

"Dr Maura Isles?" came the nervous reply.

"Yes."

"Er… you used to know my mother Charity, I'm…"

Hazel eyes brightened.

"Molly? Molly Carpenter?" finished the doctor.

"Yes."

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**A/N Thank you for reading.**

**Okay so I realise I'm setting myself up for a bit of a fall here with this story, I'm not sure if I will be able to pull it off. That said, I will probably drop through the floor if it gets a single follower. So it may just be a journey that I take alone. I doubt there are many Rizzles readers out there who are familiar with the Dresden Files and vice-versa.**

**I'd love to know what you think...Please review if you have time. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Thanks for follows and favourites. It's gonna be a bit of a slow one but hopefully worth it.**

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**Chapter 2**

"Have you lost your mind?...You don't know anything about this woman and you just invite her to stay in your guest room?"

"Well Jane, she's hardly a complete stranger, her mother was my best friend growing up!"

"Yeah, like a million years ago."

"Is that supposed to be a reflection on my age? Need I remind you that you are eighteen months older than me?"

"I just think that you could have let her stay in a hotel, that's all. She could be a complete nut job, I mean what's with the blue hair?"

The M.E. sighed. It had been two days since Molly had arrived on her doorstep and suffice to say, the young woman and the detective had not hit it off very well. The two of them were instantly wary of each other, and Molly who had been warm and animated in Maura's company, became aloof and withdrawn in response to Jane.

She was tired of explaining herself. She observed the detectives demeanour, one hand tangled in unruly dark curls, her brown eyes flashing in frustration. She knew that the brunette was only being protective as usual, but she also felt it was unwarranted.

"Jane, could we just get back to the case please?"

Jane grunted.

They were at a crime scene in an alleyway behind a small comedy club. Maura was knelt beside the body of a young woman, who had been positioned as though she was sleeping. The doctor examined the corpse carefully with trained hands. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She could find no discernible cause of death, the M.E. was not one for guessing, but not a single hypothesis presented itself in her brain. The detectives would have to wait for the autopsy.

"Vic's name is Nena Edwards." said Frost, coming to stand next to Jane. He read back over his notes. "She was a stand-up comedian, played 'The Vault' last night. The owner came in this morning and found the body."

Jane turned to her partner when he'd finished speaking.

"Do they have the tape from that camera?" she said pointing at a poorly mounted CCTV camera.

"Yeah, Korsak is looking over it now with the owner."

"That's odd," muttered Maura.

"Someone has to look at the footage," said Jane.

Maura sighed.

"I wasn't referring to that…I was just trying to take liver temperature but I can't get the needle in."

"What?"

"Yeah, the needle just won't go in, it's like there is something stopping it!"

"Like what?"

"I have no idea, it'll have to wait until we get the body back to the morgue!"

"Cause of death?"

"You will have to wait for autopsy I'm afraid"

Jane rolled her eyes, not this song and dance again.

"Aww, come on Maura, can't you just give us your most likely theory?"

"I can't!"

"You mean won't."

"I mean can't…I don't have one." Maura sounded a little embarrassed at that last part.

"Really? The great Doctor Isles doesn't have a least one idea about how this girl died?"

"Seriously Jane, I have no clue, like I said, we need to wait for the autopsy." She said, getting to her feet and dusting off her skirt.

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Jane was grumpy by the time she got back to her desk. Not only had they yet to discover how the vic in their latest case had died, but also Maura had arranged to take Molly to lunch. That meant that the autopsy would have to wait until this afternoon. Not only was this girl impacting upon her time with Maura but she was also messing with her case. She growled.

"Hey, what's up partner?" said Frost, oblivious to her dark mood.

"Molly Carpenter."

"The doc's friend?"

"Yeah…"

"She seems really cool, a woman that can quote Star Wars is a girl after my own heart!" he smiled, dramatically placing a hand over his heart.

Jane rolled her eyes. It seemed that the young woman had won over nearly everyone. Even Jane's mother had been fussing over the new comer this morning, making her bunny pancakes and asking her about life in Chicago.

"Has Korsak come back from the scene yet?"

"Yeah, he was grabbing coffee down in the café when I was down there."

"Good, we need to know if the camera's caught anything, we have jack shit at the moment, not even a cause of death!"

"When is the Autopsy?"

"Sometime this afternoon, when Maura has finished her lunch engagement with her new bestie!"

"Now, Jane is that a hint of jealousy I hear?" he teased.

"What? No, of course not!"

Jane's desk phone rang, interrupting that banter that would have surely continued.

"Rizzoli…ahuh…uh…okay, I'll be down in a sec!" she replaced the handset. "Hmm…"

"What was that about?" said Frost taking in her odd expression.

"It seems that Dr Isles is not the only one who can have visitors from out of town…" She didn't elaborate as she made her way out of Homicide and hit the down button on the elevator. The doors opened to reveal Korsak awkwardly carrying three cups of coffee. He looked up.

"Hey Rizzoli, I got you a cup."

"Thanks Korsak, I'm just heading down to the foyer." She said looking at the older man. He nodded his head.

"I'll pop it on your desk."

She stepped into the elevator as he got out and hit the foyer button. It had been over five years since she had heard from the visitor who was waiting in reception and even longer since she had seen her. As the elevator deposited her on the ground floor, a familiar figure stood and came over to greet her.

"Jane Rizzoli, you haven't changed one bit!"

"Karrin, it really is you, oh my god, it is so good to see you!"

The two women hugged in a reserved, but warm fashion.

"You too."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'll cut to the chase, I need your help on a missing persons case, I would have called first but..."

"Sure, anything, you got it! Come on up and meet my team."

"Jane, before you help me, you should know I'm no longer a cop. This case is personal…"

"What? I thought you'd made Lieutenant…" she couldn't hide her surprise.

"I did, but I…uh…I left the force."

This didn't make any sense to Jane. Karrin Murphy was a career cop, she loved the job as much as she herself did, maybe more. She shook her head. This woman was the most upright moral person she had ever known in her life after Maura, whatever had happened to make her leave the force it must have been bad. It was likely some political power play by the big boys she decided, whenever a woman made it to the higher ranks, there was always mudslinging.

She shrugged.

"I'm sorry about whatever happened, but come, let's see if we can help you, we're a bit stuck with a case so we have some time!"

"Thanks Jane." It was almost imperceptible but her voice caught just a little.

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**A/N I would love to know what you think so far if you hav****e any questions PM me and I'll be glad to answer, or find me on Twitter snugglejunkieuk**


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